Chevron (NYSE: CVX) boosted cash returns to shareholders to a record and set annual oil and gas production records in 2023, as it reported its second-highest yearly earnings last year and fourth-quarter profits beating consensus estimates. Chevron reported on Friday adjusted earnings of $6.5 billion, or $3.45 per share, for the fourth quarter 2023, compared to adjusted earnings of $7.9 billion, or $4.09 per share for the same period of 2022. Reported earnings declined compared to last year primarily... Читать дальше...
While the unrest in the Middle East lends an element of risk to the oil markets, helping to put a floor under prices, OPEC is maneuvering to keep the status quo. This week, OPEC’s JMMC did not recommend any changes to the group’s oil output targets during the quarter - as most had predicted. Second, Saudi Arabia announced that it was canceling its plans to boost capacity to 13 million bpd. This could be interpreted in any number of ways, whether that’s because oil demand isn’t what it needs to be... Читать дальше...
An old friend is back in the news at the moment, and it has prompted me to look again at a stock that I recommended a while ago. What I found was that, despite it being 35% or so higher than it was then, it still makes sense as a long-term investment, and for the same reasons. Back in October of 2022, I wrote a piece in these pages saying that if you wanted exposure to fuel cells, but without the kind of wild ride that came with investing in things like FCEL or PLUG, you should consider Linde PLC (LIN)... Читать дальше...
Politics, Geopolitics, and Conflict Oil prices had a particularly volatile Thursday, tanking on Qatari rumors that Israel and Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire deal, and then recovering shortly afterward when the source of the rumor, Al Jazeera, removed the tweet suggesting the ceasefire. The markets are particularly sensitive to rumors these days, making them extremely volatile. While there has been no confirmation of any ceasefire deal, later on Thursday night, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron... Читать дальше...
1. Shell Kicks Off Q4 Results With a Bang- The second largest investor-owned oil and gas company in the world, Shell has kicked off this month’s Q4 earnings calls exceeding expectations and promising to maintain the pace of buybacks despite lower commodity prices. - Shell posted a net profit of $28 billion for 2023, beating analyst expectations with Q4 readings of $7.3 billion thanks to improved LNG trading as well as higher production after Australia’s Prelude facility came back online. - The UK-based... Читать дальше...
The global oil market is currently facing a unique set of challenges and opportunities, influenced by various factors including China's economic slowdown, fluctuations in US crude inventories, OPEC's strategic moves, and the evolving geopolitical landscape in the Middle East. These elements are crucial in shaping the short-term outlook for crude oil prices. China's Economic Influence on Oil Demand China's role as a major oil consumer means its economic health is a key driver of global oil demand. Читать дальше...
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) posted higher-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter, while its full-year profit was the second-highest in a decade, as the U.S. supermajor boosted its Guyana and Permian production and achieved record annual refinery throughput. Exxon reported on Friday fourth-quarter 2023 earnings of $7.6 billion, or $1.91 per share assuming dilution. As previously flagged, the U.S. supermajor’s Q4 earnings were impacted unfavorably by identified items of $2.3 billion, including... Читать дальше...
Restarts of nuclear reactors, high gas inventories, and increased renewables power generation dragged Japan’s LNG imports in January to the lowest level for the month since 2009, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed on Friday. Last month, Japan imported just 6 million tons of LNG, the lowest level for the month of January in 15 years, as demand for the super-chilled fuel has declined in recent years. Japan’s surge in LNG imports after the Fukushima disaster in 2011 and the shutdown... Читать дальше...
Some wind farm operators in the UK have been overestimating forecasts of the power they would generate, leading to millions of British pounds added to consumer energy bills each year—a behavior slammed by a senior UK energy department official. Reporters Todd Gillespie and Gavin Finch led a Bloomberg investigation which found earlier this week that some wind farm operators have been overstating how much electricity they would produce. This has been raising the payments they receive to turn off... Читать дальше...
The price of a ton of CO2 in the UK this week fell to a record low, giving rise to concerns about the immediate prospects of investments in alternative energy sources. Per the Financial Times, the price for a so-called carbon permit, equal to one ton of CO2, fell to some $40 (31.48 pounds) this week due to lower industrial energy consumption and lower demand for heating due to the mild winter. Analysts also attributed the decline to an abundance of available permits. Yet the UK’s net-zero transition... Читать дальше...
Crude oil prices were set for a weekly decline despite gains made during the course of the week largely because of reports that Israel and Hamas were negotiating a ceasefire. Bloomberg cited unnamed sources as saying negotiations were ongoing and Israel’s Jerusalem Post quoted the Qatari foreign ministry as saying that Hamas had given its initial approval to a ceasefire deal and a hostage deal late on Thursday. The report quoted an unnamed Palestinian official as saying a final approval might not be forthcoming... Читать дальше...
A power outage has prompted the shutdown of the Whiting refinery in Indiana. The facility is operated by BP, which evacuated the facility on Thursday and started flaring gas to avoid more serious problems. Volatile gases are flared during a refinery shutdown because they cannot be processed the usual way and present a hazard. "This flaring is a safety release to burn off the extra product and is a normal process during an event,” the Whiting City authorities said in a statement quoted by NBC Chicago. Читать дальше...
Last year, global oil demand grew at a blistering pace with 2023 consumption exceeding the previous year’s by more than 2 million barrels per day. A number of energy agencies have provided demand growth forecasts for the current year, and the consensus is that global oil demand will see another uptick in 2024. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) typically leans to the bearish side when it comes to oil demand and oil price predictions; however, the agency has raised its 2024 oil demand... Читать дальше...
When Kinder Morgan first announced its plans to expand the capacity of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline from 300,000 bpd to 890,000 bpd, it probably thought it was another major project. Several years later, the company had given up on the project and sold it to the Canadian federal government for less than $4 billion. For a long time, it seemed like Trans Mountain would never be completed, plagued by opposition and regulatory snags. Despite all this, it seems the pipeline is about to go into operation this year. Читать дальше...
China is over the halfway mark in completing its strategically vital oil project in the critical Iraqi energy hub of Nasiriyah, at the heart of the some of the country’s biggest oil and gas fields and close to its main export terminal of Al Fao in Basra. According to the Iraq Ministry of Planning, the China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Company (CPPEC) is now over 55 percent complete on the construction of the country’s biggest crude oil storage facility, located in Nasiryah city in DhiQar province. Читать дальше...
